Pathway: Meg Cobb

By Meg Cobb

Hi everyone. I am Margaret (Meg) Cobb, from Cartersville, a small town north of Atlanta, GA. I am excited at this opportunity to tell my little, still developing story here, and possibly reach and inspire someone and infect them with the same enthusiasm I have for “things-rocket.”

Looking back, I see that my future was written in the stars at an early age. I didn’t realize it but the schools’ focus on STEM education in recent years was the fuse. The match was my home-life. I didn’t see the weirdness in the daily existence my parents created for me. They were… well, old – 42 when I was adopted from Las Vegas – and had already been married fifteen years. My first word was “wawn-mower.” I played with dolls, Beanie Babies, and cooked & pretended to be “Waitress Alise” in my kid kitchen. The weird part was, by the time I was five, I had tried my hand at MIG-Welding, learned how to navigate my way out of an unfamiliar forest by breaking twigs at eye-level on live trees, became a safe, aggressive rider on my Yamaha Raptor gasoline 4-wheeler, and had dressed as a pilot in a Nomex flight suit for Halloween. I even had my own David Clark headset and had helped Dad push the helicopter out of the carport and flown to the local McDonalds for Saturday morning pancakes. This was what my “normal” looked like. Mom and Dad worked hard. Before I, their only child, came their way in 2004, Mom had already worked at THE phone company for 25 years, Dad had already served seven years in the Air Force and Army and had bounced around sampling several occupations such as sign painter, industrial steel designer, Army pilot, and State Trooper. I was by all-means, a middle-class country girl who enjoyed being female but also enjoyed the greasy hands stuff that are more common for males.

As I got into the later years of elementary school, I started to be intrigued by space, space travel, and NASA. I was asked if I’d like to go to SpaceCamp in Huntsville between fourth and fifth grade and that experience hooked me. I went again between seventh and eighth and my future began to come into focus. The “perfect storm” was when my hometown high school had just started their new, in-class, Embry-Riddle dual enrollment program for STEM/Aviation. My Dad got it arranged for me to test-fly the program one day while I was still in middle-school and the rest is history. My Embry-Riddle instructor, Mrs. Amy Archer, took a real interest in me and under her guidance I thrived.

Now, at 18 years old, I have graduated, taking the most rigorous mountain of classes any high schooler could attempt. I have almost two years of experience working at Kohl’s department store, and thanks to Embry-Riddle Daytona’s Financial Aid Office and the Veterans Administration, my next chapter of my life in rocket science will be a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from ERAU. I’m starting in Fall 2022 with plans of following the “aeronautics” option, which focuses on in the Earth’s atmosphere. With the addition of astronautics and propulsion options, who knows where I will wind up?

I have been contemplating the NASA Intern programs which recruit heavily at Embry-Riddle, Daytona, and seem to have already appeared as an active target on NASA’s radar. Looking at their list of numerous job vacancies is very, very encouraging. This has been so fun and challenging so far! It’s almost like Nemo getting swept-up by the East Australian Current. The fact that I have been able, through hard work at school and a little bit of luck, to position myself so that I can do four years at ERAU with zero student debt gives me a tremendous sense of accomplishment. It will no doubt, be both challenging and rewarding.

I am very excited to get my hands on CATIA design software during my first semester. I have very little time using CAD (Computer Aided Design) but I do have a natural ability to think in 3D. From what Dad has told me, CATIA is very powerful and fun with unlimited functionality, but the learning curve is steep because it is not at all intuitive to use and its CAD muscles make Aqua man look like a skinny jockey.

Another unbelievable benefit of Embry-Riddle, Daytona that has me excited is the ultra-rich labs that are part of the programs. Students participate in hands-on activities that would make easy work out of keeping Neil deGrasse Tyson engaged. It’s not uncommon to graduate with significant experience in things like the wind-tunnel, doing aerospace forensics investigations, and learning using virtual, augmented, and mixed reality in the Extended Reality (XR) Lab.

My belief is that all this will be FUN! Confucius has been quoted to have said “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I think that’s precisely where I’m headed. Not only will a job as an engineer for the space program be fun and fulfilling, but it will also provide a solid source for a likely robust income and provide my family financial stability in the years to come.

The words of encouragement I feel led to pass on to others whose path to the future is yet to be determined, I’d like to say:

• Dream it! You can do it!

• Be a kid, yes! But be a good kid and make smart decisions.

• Work hard and identify your passion early!

• Don’t shy-away from the very challenging. Many people never even try.

• A strong effort in school will reward you with dollars for college.

In summary, life can be tough but you, and only you can make life a lot less tough by doing what you can do, to make your life enjoyable and meaningful. Your purpose when you get up each morning needs to be clear to you. If it’s not, do something different. Be humble and kind. Be the person that friends, family, and coworkers want to be around. If you are not, recognize that and do something different. I admit that I am not yet deep into this journey and I no doubt, will gain massive amounts of “life wisdom” in the years to come. But I can honestly say, my future seems to be bright, and I am thankful to everyone who helped make my pathway clear.